Related books

Exploring Wild Law, The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence

Wild Law is a groundbreaking approach to law that stresses human dependence on nature. For the first time, this volume brings together voices from the leading proponents of wild law around the world.

Exploring Wild Law, The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence introduces readers to the idea of wild law and considers its relationship to environmental law, the rights of nature, science, religion, property law and international governance.

Compiled and edited by Peter Burdon, Exploring Wild Law is a collection of essays written by leaders in the field of Earth Jurisprudence! Among the authors are Thomas Berry, Ng’ang’a Thiong’o, Peter Burdon, Cormac Cullinan, Klaus Bosselmann, Linda Sheehan, Mari Margil, Judith E. Koons and many others.

“The Rights of Nature, The Case for a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth gathers the unique wisdom of indigenous cultures, scientists, environmental activists, lawyers, and small farmers in order to make a case for how and why humans must work to change our current structures of law to recognize that nature has inherent rights. It includes essays and interviews from esteemed thought leaders such as Maude Barlow, Vandana Shiva, Desmond Tutu, Cormac Cullinan, Edwardo Galleano, Nimo Bassey, Thomas Goldtooth, and Shannon Biggs.

This revised second edition includes a new preface, postscript and the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth proclaimed on 22nd April 2010 by the People’s World Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth.

“Wild Law is a stimulating, eminently readable response to our governance crisis. The survival of our species and health of the Earth family depends on our ability to transform governance systems so that humans become part of the ecological matrix of biological and cultural diversity. This book is a milestone on that path.”

—Dr. Vandana Shiva, President of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, and author of Staying Alive and Water Wars

Wild Law 2nd Edition released in South Africa.

This revised second edition includes a new preface, postscript and the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth proclaimed on 22nd April 2010 by the People’s World Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth.

“This book of Cormac Cullinan explains with great clarity how we can change our entire approach to governance so that we can continue life on a liveable planet. In its basic outlines this book is one of the finest contributions to the entire field of jurisprudence in recent times.”
— Thomas Berry, author of The Dream of the Earth, The Universe Story and The Great Work

Rights of Nature Planting Seeds of Real Change

Global Exchange released a new report for the Rio+20 Earth Summit (June 20th-22nd, 2012), Rights of Nature Planting Seeds of Real Change.

This report takes a look at the flaws behind the Green Economy agenda and explores in depth the ways in which Rights of Nature can be applied as a legal framework to help solve many of the problems currently plaguing the environment.

The report includes articles from leading activists such as former UN Ambassador to Bolivia Pablo Solon, Vandana Shiva, Maude Barlow, Alberto Acosta, and many more.

A leading voice in the struggle for global justice, Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental activist and physicist. In Earth Democracy, Shiva updates the struggles she helped bring to international attention—against genetic food engineering, culture theft, and natural resource privatization-—uncovering their links to the rising tide of fundamentalism, violence against women, and planetary death.

Among the ten principles of Earth Democracy Dr Shiva outlines are :
– All species, peoples and cultures have intrinsic worth.
– All beings have a natural right to sustenance which is the right to life.
– Earth Democracy is a living democracy.

The global water crisis has dramatically deepened. The stage is being set for drought on an unprecedented scale, mass starvation, and the migration of millions of refugees leaving parched lands in search of water. The story does not need to end in tragedy.

In Blue Future, Maude Barlow offers solutions to the global water crisis based on four simple principles:

Principle One: Water Is a Human Right chronicles the long fight to have the human right to water recognized and the powerful players still impeding this progress.

Principle Two:Water Is a Common Heritage and Public Trust argues that water must not become a commodity to be bought and sold on the open market.

Principle Three:Water Has Rights Too makes the case for the protection of source water and the need to make our human laws compatible with those of nature.

Principle Four:Water Will Teach Us How to Live Together urges us to come together around a common threat — the end of water — and find a way to live more lightly on this planet.

The final installment in Barlow’s Blue trilogy, Blue Future includes inspiring stories of struggle and resistance from marginalized communities, as well as examples of government policies that work for people and the planet. A call to action to create a water-secure world, it is, in the end, a book of hope.

First Rights of Nature writings

Should Trees Having Standings, Christopher Stone

In this collection of essays on Law, Morality and the Environment, Professor Christopher Stone presents the question, Should Trees Have Standing? Professor Stoneargues that natural objects, such as trees, should have legal rights through the appointment of guardians designated to protect them.

Originally published in 1972, Christopher Stone’s Should Trees Have Standing? ignited a furor and an endorsement by Chief Justice Marshall. Republished in 2010, Stone updates his original thesis and explores the impact of his question and thinking on our judicial system and on society as a whole. Enduring, thought provoking work.

Wild Law, A Manifesto for Earth Justice, Cormac Cullinan – First published in 2002, released in 2011 both in the United States and South Africa. Additional information is provided with recent publications above.

Does Nature Have Rights?

“We, the peoples and nations of Earth: considering that we are all part of Mother Earth, an indivisible, living community of interrelated and interdependent beings with a common destiny…”-Click to sign the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth

“Every component of the Earth Community has three rights:—The Right To Be,
—The Right to Habitat,
—The Right to fulfill its role in the ever-renewing processes of the earth community.”